I live in Woodside at 57th Street and Woodside Avenue. Presently, there are two elementary schools in this small area. One is St. Sebastian’s, which takes in students from three other parishes, and the other is P.S. 11.

The School Construction Authority has a contract with the owner of a property at 57th Street and 39th Avenue, which is on the same block as St. Sebastian’s, for a proposed 440-seat elementary school.

You can imagine the amount of school buses and parents bringing their children to and from these schools from areas miles away. This would present a major problem of safety, parking and noise in a predominately two-family home neighborhood.

The principal of P.S. 11 has been asking for an addition to her overcrowded school for many years to no avail. Yet, there will be additions to P.S. 287 in Corona of 432 seats, P.S. 87 in Middle Village of 140 seats, and P.S. 70 in Sunnyside of 508 seats. Why not Woodside?

The most logical thing to do would be to build an addition to P.S. 11 and forget the proposed 440-seat school at 57th Street and 39th Avenue, which would bring unwanted congestion in a confined area and change the complexion of the neighborhood permanently.